Tarris Reed Jr. is wasting no time making San Antonio’s draft move look sharp.
The Spurs came into the summer with plenty to feel good about after reaching the NBA Finals with one of the youngest rosters ever to go that deep in the postseason. Even with the players already in place expected to improve, San Antonio still went up in the draft to land Reed, and early signs suggest that decision could matter a lot.
Reed has already logged a few Summer League games in silver and black, and while those numbers won’t count once the real season starts, the way he’s carrying himself absolutely does. In his latest outing, the 26th overall pick got rolling right away and showed exactly why Spurs fans should be excited about a 260-pound center with his kind of presence.
Tarris Reed in 8 minutes:
12 points
5 rebounds (all offensive)
He’s got muscles on his muscles pic.twitter.com/8Ga0tA2aqe
- Tom Petrini (@RealTomPetrini) July 9, 2026
That’s the kind of interior force San Antonio hasn’t had to lean on much lately. Reed is already using his size to overpower defenders in the lane, and with professional training and a serious work ethic, he looks like the kind of big man who can become a problem in a hurry. He can do the traditional center stuff, but he’s doing it with real athletic pop.
He also doesn’t profile as the kind of slow-footed big teams can simply drag away from the basket and exploit. Instead, he looks like the sort of bruiser who can make life miserable on the glass, especially once opponents have already spent energy trying to keep Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper from finishing possessions cleanly.
That matters for a Spurs team that finished last season sixth in field goal percentage but only 14th in offensive rebounding, even though it ranked second in total rebounding. Part of that comes down to the makeup of the roster, with so many wings and guards on the floor and Wembanyama often operating on the perimeter on offense.
Reed changes that equation. He lives closer to the rim, where the chaos starts and where opponents would rather not see him.
San Antonio didn’t have to force anything after the year it just had, but it went after Reed anyway. While most of the attention this summer is bound to land on AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cameron Boozer, Reed may end up being the steal people are still talking about from Summer 2026.
In Other News...
Spurs Just Sent A Clear Message With Their Riskiest Draft Bet
The Spurs have spent the last few years building real momentum around Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, and the payoff has already been obvious in the form of a Finals trip. So when San Antonio went into the 2026 NBA Draft and used the No. 20 pick on Jayden Quaintance, it fit a pattern the front office has leaned into since the rebuild started to accelerate: keep chasing difference-makers, even when the safer route is sitting right there.
Quaintance is the sort of bet that tells you where the Spurs think they are in the cycle. He brings the kind of upside teams usually reserve for much earlier in the draft, but his college rsum is still thin enough to leave plenty of questions attached to the selection. For a franchise that has surged all the way to 62 wins and the Finals, the message is less about playing it safe and more about refusing to settle now that the foundation is in place. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Fans Suddenly Have A Wild Wemby Question To Consider
Victor Wembanyama is now in the window where the Spurs can lock him into a rookie-scale extension that would put him among the leagues highest-paid young stars. The number attached to that deal is enormous, with incentives capable of pushing it even higher, which is exactly why any discussion around the contract immediately spills beyond simple bookkeeping and into the bigger picture of what San Antonio can build around its franchise centerpiece.
What makes this one worth watching is the idea that there may be some room for flexibility if Wembanyama chooses a path that echoes a recent star example from New York. For the Spurs, that kind of breathing room would not just be about easing the cap sheet in the abstract, but about keeping the door open to a far more ambitious pursuit down the line, one that would have every fan in the building paying attention to the next move. [Read more 🡒]